Jackson will headline Bellator
157 “Dynamite 2” against Satoshi
Ishii in a 215-pound catch-weight bout, while Mitrione will
square off against Carl
Seumanutafa in a featured heavyweight contest. If all goes as
planned, Mitrione believes a future showdown against “Rampage”
could be big business -- provided the former UFC light heavyweight
champ doesn’t return to 205 pounds.

“If Rampage really thinks that he wants to fight me and have the
last fight of his career, I would happily try to punch a hole in
his face,” Mitrione told Sherdog.com. “But I don’t know, for as far
as I’m concerned, Rampage is a 205er. I don’t know what he wants to
do and how he wants to do it, but if [he’s down, I’m down]. I’m
just trying to get paid.”

The late Kimbo
Slice was Bellator’s biggest attraction, as his bout with
Ken
Shamrock in June 2015 drew 2.1 million viewers to Spike TV
during their headlining tilt, while his grudge match with Dhafir
Harris this past February peaked at an audience of 2.5 million.
Those are difficult figures to surpass, but Mitrione thinks it’s
doable given the right matchup.

“I believe that a fight between Rampage and myself could break the
Kimbo record of viewers, ratings,” he said. “I’m not afraid of
lofty goals.”

Mitrione, Jackson and Slice all were part of “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 10, which was one of the reality show’s highest rated
seasons in large part because of the presence of Slice, as well as
the coaching rivalry between Jackson and Rashad
Evans. Mitrione, who later defeated the YouTube brawler via
second-round TKO at UFC 113, remembers the Florida native as
someone who might have been unfairly labeled because of his
image.

“Kimbo was a really good dude. I had a good relationship with him.
Family man. He was a father. He got branded as a thug because [of
his appearance], but he was a really good dude, man,” Mitrione
said. “It’s sad that all this happened, that he got branded as a
thug when he really wasn’t, but Kimbo the person was a good man,
and I’m glad I could call him a friend.”

Mitrione will have plenty of opportunity to make an impact in the
Bellator heavyweight division, especially with the promotion’s
recent decision to strip Vitaly
Minakov of the title due to inactivity. Whether its
Seumanutafa, Jackson or someone else, “Meathead” doesn’t have much
of a preference as long as the fights are fun.

“There’s all kinds of names in the heavyweight division that
interest me,” he said. “To be honest with you, the game plan is
simple: I want to fight somebody that doesn’t try to A. get me
pregnant, or B. run away. It doesn’t matter who it is. I’m down for
the cause.”